The Lexar JumpDrive M10 Secure (64GB) USB flash drive offers security without the headache, and is affordable enough for the average user.

Data is becoming more personal every day, and even as cloud storage and backup services become more mainstream, if you want something kept safe, you need to store it locally, and you need to keep out unwanted eyes. For portable storage with usable security, there's the Lexar JumpDrive M10 Secure (64GB) ($72.99), a flash drive that offers both encrypted protection and ease of use for all of your other storage needs. It's not up to standard for government agents, but for the average user, it's a usable, affordable choice, making the Lexar JumpDrive M10 Secure (64GB) our Editors' Choice encrypted flash drive.

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Design and Features
The JumpDrive M10 Secure has a fairly unassuming design, with a gray plastic housing, a glossy-white face, and a small keychain loop on the back of the drive. The entire thing measures just 0.42 by 0.87 by 2.67 inches (HWD) and weighs 0.8 ounce, so it will slip into a pocket without adding much bulk.

The compact drive has a sliding cover, pulling back to expose the USB plug. The face of the drive sports a small e-ink display, which serves as a capacity meter. As your drive fills toward capacity, the meter goes up like an old thermometer. The meter only has seven gradations, so it's not a particularly granular view of how much space you have, but on a 64GB drive, it's nice to know how full it is after dumping dozens or even hundreds of files onto it.

The drive also comes with EncryptStick Lite software, giving you the option of securing some or all of your data in a password-protected vault. Using 256-bit AES encryption may not make your files impervious to the NSA, but it's a significant layer of protection from just about anyone else. The software also adds more secure deletion, so a deleted file isn't available through file-recovery attacks.

Preinstalled on the drive is the aforementioned EncryptStick Lite software (with versions for both Windows and Mac), and a PDF Quick Start guide. Just set up your password, and it establishes an encrypted portion of the drive, which you can access through the EncryptStick tool. The software is actually the free trial version of EncryptStick's software, but if you want further features like password management or online file synchronization and backup, you can upgrade through a link included in the setup wizard.

Pricing and Performance
The 64GB model of the JumpDrive M10 Secure has a list price of $72.99, which works out to $1.14 per gigabyte. It is sold in other capacities with a 16GB model ($22.99) selling for $1.43 per gigabyte, a 32GB model ($38.99) selling for $1.21 per gigabyte, and a larger 128GB model ($139.99) that sells for $1.09 per gigabyte. As is usually the case with storage, it's cheaper to buy in bulk. But even the $1.14 per gigabyte of our review unit isn't that bad for an encrypted drive. The most similar competitor, the Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ G2 (16GB) is a little more expensive at $1.56 per gigabyte, while professional-grade secure drivesfor use by government and enterpriseare significantly more expensive, like the Kingston DataTraveler Vault Privacy (4GB) at $10.50 per gigabyte, or the IronKey Personal S250 16GB Secure Drive, which sells for more than $20 per gigabyte.

When tested in our timed file transfer test, the JumpDrive M10 Secure offered read speeds of 92 MB per second (MBps), and write speeds of 56MBps over USB 3.0. This is faster than most of the compared secured drives simply by virtue of the USB 3.0 connectionmost of the others we've reviewed use USB 2.0. Under USB 2.0, the drive is (predictably) slower, averaging 30MBps (read) and 21MBps (write), which is about as good as you'll get over the slower interface. For example, the IronKey Personal S250 16GB Secure Drive offered 35MBps (read) and 21MBps (write), while the Kingston DataTraveler Vault Privacy (4GB) averaged 10MBps (read) and 35MBps (write). The Editors' Choice Kingston Locker+ G2 had 21MBps read and 12MBps write speeds in the same tests.

Conclusion
With solid performance, easy-to-use security, and a built-in capacity meter, the Lexar JumpDrive M10 Secure (64GB) is an excellent choice for anyone who needs encryption at a personal level. For business and government users, you'll still need to stick to options like the IronKey Personal S250 16GB Secure Drive. For individuals, however, the combination of secure storage, ease of use, and affordable pricing make this an easy pick as our Editors' Choice for encrypted USB flash drives.

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About the Author

Brian Westover is an Analyst for the Hardware Team, reviewing laptops, desktops, and storage devices.
As a child, Brian was frequently asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" His answer alternated between Superman and Batman. This was cute when he was five, but worrisome at seventeen. Naturally, he is now a journalist, writing about tec... See Full Bio

Lexar JumpDrive M10 Secure (64G...

Lexar JumpDrive M10 Secure (64GB)

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